I am sure I speak for my fellow ATW writers in wishing everyone a happy 2007. As I reflect on this passing year, I do so with considerable sadness as I, again, have thoughts of my dear departed friend firmly in my mind. 2007 will, rest assured, see lots of output from ourselves, though as I am undertaking a fast-track senior care management diploma between February and July, my contributions here will probably be reduced.

2007 marks the 10th anniversary of the worst government this UK has seen in modern times. It will, hopefully, also see the start of a more principled political strategy from Cameron’s Conservatives. There will be another fragile attempt to create a government in Northern Ireland based on a co-opted coalition containing insurrectionists; elections in Scotland and Wales; the arrival of Gordon Brown at Number 10; and the ongoing battle with the biggest enemy of our time: radical Islam. All these and more will feature so sit back and enjoy the ride.

More damning evidence of the government’s contempt for the public’s safety is revealed in this report from the Observer newspaper. Due to prison overcrowding, hundreds of prisoners classed as “high risk”, including murderers and paedophiles have been moved to open prisons, where the only thing keeping them inside is their own inclination. The pleas of prison governors, probation staff and in one case mentioned of the prisoner himself make no impression on our criminally negligent Home Office.

“Watching this government’s handling of the prison service is like watching a train crash,” according to Edward Garnier, the Tory home affairs spokesman. In recent years, train company executives have had to answer charges of “corporate manslaughter” over train crashes. Should not the Home Office kaisers similarly be held to account for their actions and inactions? I won’t hold my breath.

I see that various ‘officials’ of the truly-self-inflated European Union have condemned the execution of Saddam Hussein as ‘barbaric’ and ‘the death penalty is not compatible with democracy!’. Now if these guys were speaking on their own behalf, as they have a perfect right to do, I would accept their words as maybe flawed by my own standards, but if that’s what they think; fair enough! I would go so far as to state that my own views on the Death Penalty, and it’s impact upon both criminals and criminality, are diametrically opposed to those uttered by the EU guys, and again, that is completely my own view, and I do not ever state that I speak for anyone but myself.

The final phrase of my last paragraph says it all, and I would repeat that in emphasis! "and I do not ever state that I speak for anyone but myself." Which is exactly the opposite to the pronunciations of the Brussels-bound clowns who parrot the Party line of ‘Death Penalty—Bad’, while speaking as officials of that same European Union! They cannot speak for the 350 million inhabitants of that Union, because no-one elected them to speak for us! They are appointed, selected, culled; but never chosen by any other than a tiny number of equally-appointed officials. I did not ask Finland’s Foreign Minister Erkki Tuomioja to speak for me on any item concerning Europe, nor did I ask EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana to give an opinion which was presumed to be made on behalf of the citizens of the EU, because I didn’t vote for him!

I say to this bunch of supremely arrogant fools; you do not speak for me, you never have and you never will!

I’d like to pay tribute to another of my all-time favourite British bands tonight. Back in 1988/89, a bright new wave of British indie-pop surfaced, loosely known as the "Madchester" scene (as many of the bands hailed from Manchester). Drawing inspiration from 70’s dance music and 60’s psychedelic garage, bands such as Happy Mondays and Inspiral Carpets created something fresh and funky!

But there was one band that stood truly head and shoulders above the rest, and their music continues to stand the test of time. Their self-titled debut album was so magical, so perfect it could almost have fallen from heaven, it’s got to be one of the best British albums ever recorded. Even the admittedly weak vocals were more than made up for by their hugely talented guitarist, whose playing was compared by many to Hendrix (I never ever "got" Hendrix – to me his music is just a pretentious self-indulgent din, but this guy did it for me!) Sadly, years of legal wranglings and in-fighting took their toll on the band’s creativity, and five years later (after an interminably drawn-out wait, for what was to become the most eagerly awaited follow-up album of the 90’s) their second album failed to live up to expectations. Their inevitable break-up was messy and ignoble; music lovers averted their eyes and wept (well, I did, anyway). Sweet, sweet, the memories you gave me….

** UPDATE: I just don’t know what it is about YouTube: when I play this clip by clicking on the "play" button here on ATW, the picture quality is poor and "jittery", and it keeps on pausing every 10 seconds or so while its buffering – very annoying for a music track. Whereas, when viewed at its original YouTube location, it plays perfectly. ??? If you’re having the same troubles, then you can view the clip at its source page, at this url:

If anyone was awake in the early hours of this morning as I was, they will have had the opportunity to witness the contrasting analytical styles of Sky News and BBC News 24 as they brought us the joyous news that Saddam’s neck had just been extended another 8 inches. Whilst the former concentrated on the years of his brutal rule and the numerous atrocities carried out on his orders, Auntie was busying herself searching through the journalistic woodwork for anyone who opposed the sentence on ‘human rights grounds’, or ‘compassionate grounds’, or who believed the whole trial was something of a farce. As the day progressed we had John Simpson telling us how Saddam’s unflinching lack of emotion, nay, veritable bravery, on the gallows would be seen as an energising rally to all those who continue to kill Iraqis and Allies alike to further his legacy.

I repeat: why are we compelled by law to pay money to fund the innate stomach-churning bias of this supposedly ‘politically neutral’ behemoth of insipid Leftism?

Any normal political party in a given democratic situation would give their support to the police and institutions of the State in which they live as a matter of necessity. However, in Ulster, we are not dealing with a normal political party. Nor are we talking about government ministers with any semblance of moral perspective. Thus, it is entirely right for the pro-Union majority to ask what concessions (and there will have been some, you can mark my words) have been given in order for the IRA to assent to conditionally supporting the PSNI (‘conditionally’ refers to the inevitable reality as opposed to the cheap words uttered by this collective scat)?

Have members of the government been doing a bit of Monty Pythonesque ‘nudge, nudge, wink, wink, say no more, squire’ on the vexed issue of on-the-runs? Let me make one thing clear: these terrorists cowardly hiding from the reach of justice should be treated in exactly the same way as Mr Tikrit was treated at 3am this morning. Why should they be accommodated in order for the Provos to accept what parties who can honestly claim to be constitutional accept as their duty? We all know the IRA is split from top-to-bottom on this issue and Adams will be desperate to obtain notable ‘goodies’ in order for the anticipated gaggle of the worst plebs in the British Isles to give a cursory nod to the role the Provos have envisaged for themselves as it, in truth, will be to hollow out the PSNI from within.

Many of those hiding in the metaphorical Irish pig pens from the reaches of the judicial system are guilty of denying the right of unfettered life to a great number of people. There is absolutely no reason why the United Kingdom should permit these animals to return peaceably as an incentive to evoke cheap and, ultimately, meaningless platitudes from a bunch of terrorists and murderers.

They that go down to the sea in ships, that do business in great waters; These see the works of the LORD, and his wonders in the deep. For he commandeth, and raiseth the stormy wind, which lifteth up the waves thereof. They mount up to the heaven, they go down again to the depths: their soul is melted because of trouble. They reel to and fro, and stagger like a drunken man, and are at their wits’ end. Then they cry unto the LORD in their trouble, and he bringeth them out of their distresses. He maketh the storm a calm, so that the waves thereof are still. Then are they glad because they be quiet; so he bringeth them unto their desired haven.

Read a small snip about how Kim Jong-IL, the premier, head lad and all-round good sport of North Korea has announced a week of celebrations of the birth and works of Mozart. This departure from the usual round of stirring music with titles such as “Let’s Support our Supreme Commander with Arms” is raising eyebrows in PyongYang, but, as it’s the Supreme Leader’s desire, the eyebrow raising will only go so far! Not only a Mozart fan, Kim JongIL is no mean sportsman, having hit no less than eleven holes-in-one during his first round of golf!

Wry smiles apart at the lunacy which normally surrounds this dangerous smiling fool, we should just feel a little sorrow for the millions who labour in silence so this puny clown with the intellect of a gnat can prance around on the world stage, brandishing his nuclear explosive technology and (pro rata) the world’s largest standing army as his entry cards to the ‘2007 class of the great and the good’!

The photograph depicts a satellite image of the Korean peninsula, and highlights the difference between the capitalist South and the totalitarian North. Readers have to make their own minds up as to which is the more successful, or indeed acceptable, of the two economies!

Memo to George W.:- Howzabout a spot of regime-change?

Strange indeed is the silence from just about all left-leaning commentators on the crushing dictatorship which gives a tiny fraction of it’s inhabitants the good life, and the huge majority of North Koreans the dregs which that same fraction discards on the dust!

You do not defeat terrorism by rewarding terrorists, regardless of how many bleeding heart liberals argue otherwise. Want to know where that flawed approach leads to? Read UNIONISM DECAYED 1997-2007 - It's my first book and it explains what happens when you seeek to appease terrorists and call it peace. It's available right now for ATW readers so make sure you get your copy by emailing the editor! This is the book that dissents from the herd mentality that doing wrong can lead to being right. It doesn't and this book spells out WHY.

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